1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lock device used for fixing a detachable seat or a movable seat.
2. Description of the Related Art
Some vehicles such as minivans and buses include a detachable seat or a movable seat (hereinafter collectively referred to as “detachable seat”). The detachable seat is fixed to a vehicle body in such a manner that a lock device provided to the seat or the vehicle body restrains a striker mounted to the other one of the seat and the vehicle body.
The lock device for fixing the detachable seat to the vehicle body includes a lock mechanism having a hook lever or an open lever, and a lock mechanism housing member for housing the lock mechanism. The lock mechanism housing member includes a body having substantially a concave shape, and a cover plate covering an opening of the body. The lock mechanism housing member has a striker insertion groove into which the striker is inserted upon fixing the seat. The lock mechanism is configured such that the hook lever is engaged with the striker inserted into the striker insertion groove, and then, the striker is restrained by the most inward part of the striker insertion groove and the hook lever.
The lock device is fastened and fixed to a support member such as a frame of the detachable seat by use of a support bolt. However, when the lock device is fixed to the frame (support member), the striker may not be engaged with the hook lever due to the deviation (mounting error) caused on the mounting position of the lock device or the striker, resulting in that the detachable seat may not be fixed to the vehicle body. As one of countermeasures for solving this problem, a method of mounting the lock device to the frame so as to be rotatable or swingable has been proposed.
When the lock device is mounted to the frame so as to be rotatable or swingable, the mounting portion to the frame is formed to project from the outer surface of the lock mechanism housing member, and a circular hole and an arc-like elongated hole about the circular hole are formed on the mounting portion (e.g., see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 10-324182). The lock mechanism housing member is mounted to the frame by use of the support bolt and a nut through the circular hole and the elongated hole. In this mounting method, the lock mechanism housing member (lock device) can swing about the circular hole. Therefore, even if the mounting position of the striker is shifted, for example, the lock device swings, so that the hook lever is engaged with the striker. Thus, the detachable seat can be fixed to the vehicle body.
The vehicle body and the detachable seat have variety of shapes, so that the environment of the portion where the lock device is mounted is different depending upon a type of vehicle. Therefore, considering versatility, the lock device for fixing the detachable seat to the vehicle body is desirably compact, and desirably has a lot of flexibility in the mounting position. However, the above-mentioned lock device having the mounting portion projecting from the outer surface of the lock mechanism housing member is large-sized as a whole.
When the above-mentioned lock device having the mounting portion is mounted to the frame so as to be rotatable or swingable, the rotation is inhibited by friction resistance generated on a contact surface between the mounting portion and the frame during the rotation of the lock device, which might cause incomplete engagement en the striker and the hook lever.
The present invention is accomplished in view of the above-mentioned circumstance, and aims to provide a lock device that can realize an accurate engagement between a striker and a hook lever without an increase in size of the device.